Endeared (The Accidental Billionaires #5) - J. S. Scott Page 0,25
he clearly knew how to mingle in a party.
“I don’t think I’ve met your friend,” Jax said casually as he turned to look at me.
His eyes were no longer intense. He smiled, and his piercing stare from earlier morphed into a much friendlier expression.
Andie smiled and said obligingly, “Jax Montgomery, meet one of my best friends, Layla Caine. Layla is a nurse practitioner. She and Owen work together at the clinic now.” She took a deep breath before she added, “I better go find my new husband. He probably thinks I deserted him.”
I shot Andie a dirty look as she waved, right before she hightailed it toward the guests.
Traitor!
It wasn’t that I didn’t like meeting new people, but it would have been a lot less awkward if she’d stayed for a while.
Jax sat down on the end of the lounger that Andie had vacated.
I put the back of my seat up and curled my legs up beside me, so I could finally see his entire face.
Like every other guest, he’d dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a nice collared shirt.
On the surface, he seemed relaxed, but I felt like there was a predator right beneath that thin layer of amiability, ready to spring the second it became necessary.
“I met Owen just a few minutes ago,” Jax said in a laid-back tone. “He seems like a pretty nice guy. What’s it like to work with him?”
“I’ve actually known him for a long time. We were friends in high school,” I explained. “It’s good to have him back in California, and I love what I do. Honestly, we haven’t really been working together all that long. He just bought the clinic a few months ago.”
Jax smiled at me, and really, I should have been swooning. The guy was absolutely gorgeous. His brown hair had some stunning auburn highlights, and I would probably call his face beautiful because his bone structure was perfect, but he was much too rugged to actually be a “pretty boy.”
His low baritone was enough to make a woman shiver in anticipation.
Problem was, I just wasn’t that woman.
I had no doubt that Jax was probably pursued relentlessly.
He was a billionaire.
He was gorgeous, tall, and muscular.
But for some reason, he didn’t do a thing for me.
Nada.
Nothing.
Not even a twinge of attraction.
Andie’s matchmaking attempts were a complete fail.
I did start to like Jax as we began talking and got to know each other. He seemed interested in what I had to say, and he kept me entertained with stories about what it was like to circulate in the world of the superwealthy.
“I think it would drive me absolutely crazy to have to spend time with a bunch of uptight people I didn’t like,” I told him.
He shrugged. “It’s not all bad. I think you just have to put the whole thing into perspective. I treat it like a game, and I never forget that those people live in a bubble. Sometimes, in my business, it’s necessary to play in their sandbox and make friends, but I actually avoid it when I can.”
I tilted my head as I looked at him. “Don’t you live in that same bubble?”
He chuckled. “Jesus! I hope not.”
“What makes you so different? You grew up rich and privileged, right?”
“I did,” he admitted. “But I was also a Navy SEAL until I had to give it up to go back to San Diego to help manage Montgomery Mining with my brothers. I broke out of that bubble pretty early, and now that I’m back, I can’t take that superficial world all that seriously. I saw a lot of the uglier side of life, and once I saw it, I could never forget that life isn’t easy for most people.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I had no idea you were in the military.”
He grinned. “So you just thought I’ve always been a useless rich guy?”
I smiled back at him. “Pretty much. I’m starting to think I make way too many assumptions, and it gets me into trouble sometimes.”
What I’d done to Owen immediately came to mind, and I knew I needed to work on my tendency to jump to conclusions.
But really, it was a little hard to imagine a wealthy, handsome billionaire like Jax leaping to the call of Uncle Sam.
Jax shook his head slowly. “I don’t blame you for thinking I was a spoiled rich kid. But kids with money don’t always have an idyllic childhood. Let’s just say everything my parents did revolved around money,